Page 3 of The Labyrinth

The smaller animals still survived in the desert, mostly keeping to themselves. But the best hunters knew where to find them. I wasn’t a hunter, but I usually could find enough scrap to trade the lucky few who were. I propped my hands on my hips, looking out toward the massive dump that rimmed the gates. Just beyond it stood the walls of the Labyrinth—tall, majestic, carved with a story no one knew for sure. They were as beautiful as they were terrifying. As long as I kept my head down, and worked quickly, I’d be home in no time with my pockets full. The large sign on the foreboding walls taunted me, reminding me I shouldn’t be picking this close to their lair.No trespassing, it said.Offenders will be punished.

Today I risked the punishment. For Ettie. No one ever patrolled out here, anyway. I would get in and get out before anyone realized I was looking through their precious trash.

I bent over and began picking through the piles of garbage. I was lucky, as most of it was clean. Furniture with holes and tears in it, stuffing spilling out. Clothing of the humans who worked inside the walls. I didn’t want to think about what had happened to them, and why they no longer needed the clothes. Within an hour or two, I had filled my satchel with a variety of tin cans, labels worn away. Another hour or so and I could head back, enough scrap to trade for dinner tonight. I stood up straight, stretching my back.

As I twisted from side to side, a glint of silver caught my eye. I smiled to myself. I knew coming out this way was a good idea. It was small, but the way it shone in the light told me it was bound to be heavy. The more weight it had, the more I could trade it for. If it was really heavy, I’d be able to sell it for some actual money.

I waded through the piles of garbage, realizing as I got closer that there was barely any dirt on the large ring. I could tell it was a ring by the large jewel resting on its prongs, the clearest thing I had ever seen in my life. Excitement bubbled up in my chest, making it hard for me to breathe. I looked over my shoulders. A treasure like this shouldn’t be out here. Someone must have tossed it by mistake. It would feed my family for weeks. I grabbed the silver, clutching it to my chest. I was certain it was a ring for a monster, but on me it was large enough to be a bracelet. As expected, it was heavy as anything.

I closed my eyes, tipping my face toward the dusty sun. “Thank you. Thank you.” I grabbed a scrap of cloth from the garbage pile, and carefully wrapped my treasure inside. I wouldn’t sell it today. Even without the ring, it had been a successful day, and I’d be able to purchase a scrawny rabbit from one of the local vendors. I needed to be careful with such a find, and make sure I got the most amount of money for it. I definitely didn’t want someone to steal it from me first. I tucked it into my satchel, and with a sudden burst of energy, I turned and began my trek back to the village.

Not even the dust bothered me as it stung my eyes and blew into my face. A quick calculation of the midday shadows told me I had a bit of time before I had to pick up Ettie from school, which meant I had time before the market would be set up. I smiled to myself beneath the bandana. I was going to go home and celebrate my find with a nap.

Mother was still in bed snoring softly when I arrived home. She usually didn’t get up until after Ettie and I had eaten dinner and the boys returned from the mine, bones exhausted and faces dirty. She’d eat a bit, and then quietly step out the door.

I couldn’t imagine what went through her mind as she ventured out to sell her body night after night. Did she enjoy it? Did she think of my father, long gone now? Or did she just turn her brain off, and do what she needed to do for her children, to keep us alive? One thing was certain, she was far braver than I ever would be. I didn’t think I had the stomach to do what she did. And despite what she said, it was the furthest thing from “easy money.” I saw the bruises that grazed her cheeks from the men with too much anger bursting out of their pores. The red marks that lingered on her skin for days, visible even through the dust.

I crawled into bed behind her, curling my larger body around her petite one. She stirred, a soft smile spreading across her face as she dreamily patted my hand. “Rissa. My girl. I’m so proud of you, you know,” she mumbled.

I laughed quietly, so as not to disturb her. There was no response from my mother, already dozing again. I let my eyes close, my mind drifting as I quickly fell asleep.

A thud woke me up. The sound of the door slamming open, hitting the weak wall of our shack. My eyes flew open, expecting Lars. But it was still too bright outside for Lars to be home. The air in our shack was suddenly stagnant, a smell like I had never experienced before assaulting my senses. It wasn’t bad. It was justdifferent.

I knew what I was going to see before I even turned over. I knew it from the rapid pulse of my heart, and the way all the air in my lungs disappeared.

I rolled over to meet my nightmare face to face.

Monster.

Chapter2

Ten

My father taught me two things in this world, and two things only. The first was to never let another see your weakness. And the second was that if someone was afraid of you, then you automatically had the upper hand. I used the latter to my advantage quite often.

It helped to be scary when I was taking women for the camps. It made my job endlessly easier. It made any feelings I might have for them dissipate in the blink of an eye, vanishing as I witnessed their weakness, their fragility offered up to me on a silver platter as they begged for their freedom. For their lives.

But this woman who sat staring at me with the greenest eyes I had ever seen in a human, she didn’t look afraid of me. I couldn’t smell her fear in the air. If anything, her entire aura spoke to a feeling of curiosity.

Not fear.

Not terror.

Not horror as she took me in, the deep purple skin that covered me like a bruise, the way I had to duck to fit inside her shack, folding my arms close to my body.

No. Just interest. I watched her cock her head to the side, her dark hair spilling across her shoulders. At least I thought it was dark. It could have just been dirty. It was hard to tell with these humans, and the perpetual dust that covered them.

If she knew any better, she’d be scared. She should be terrified of me. Maybe something was wrong with her. After all, I was her worst fucking nightmare. A monster in the flesh, standing in her home. Was I not everyone’s worst nightmare?

But the way she stared up at me, those piercing eyes slicing through me as if she could see past the skin and the horns, the size, and the way I towered in her house uninvited, it was like she could see me. The me I kept hidden deep down, where no one could see. I didn’t like it. I wanted the begging, the pleading, and the tears. I knew what to do with those. They told me I was doing a good job. But this…curiosity? Fuck.

I took another step inside, gathered my breath, and roared as loudly as my lungs would allow. My bellow shook the interior of the ancient shack, the frail walls trembling beneath my fury. And still, the woman just stared. Another, older woman next to her sat upright with the sound, turning in my direction, screaming when she saw me. That,thatwas what I was used to.

The girl with green eyes immediately stirred with an urgency I hadn’t yet seen, turning to the justifiably terrified woman and immediately cradling an arm around her. I waited for the younger woman to turn back to me with fear in her eyes when the shock wore off, realizing what was now at stake. But instead, when she whipped her mop of dark brown waves in my direction, I was stunned at the emotion staring at me.

Anger. She waspissed.

I wanted to laugh. I wasn’t sure I had ever met someone who wasn’t immediately frightened of me. Monsters because of my name, humans because of my appearance. But it was no matter. I would make her fear me. It was what I was best at, after all.

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